Redundancy deal saves over 30 jobs at Cork butchers

The union representing workers at a Cork butchers which closed last week announced yesterday that they had reached an agreement with the company on a redundancy package which will lead to the reopening of the shop and save over 30 jobs.

Seven of the 40 full and part-time staff at O'Donovan's butchers shop on Princes Street staged a sit-in last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in protest at the company's offer of two weeks' statutory redundancy for every year of service after it announced it was to close the shop.

Almost 7,000 Corkonians signed a petition organised by the workers, and yesterday, following two days of talks between the shop's owners and the workers' trade union Mandate, a deal was reached which will result in the reopening of the 105-year-old, family-run shop.

The company had sought a number of redundancies last April. However, following a break-down in talks, it announced in May that it was to close the Princes Street shop on June 28th due to a downturn in business in the city centre store.

Last Thursday afternoon staff were given their final pay packets and told not to report for work again. This prompted seven staff to stage the sit-in at the shop, which began on Thursday evening and continued until Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday, Mandate's divisional organiser Jim O'Connell confirmed that a deal has been reached which would see eight voluntary redundancies offered to staff on the basis of two weeks' statutory redundancy plus two weeks of pay for every year of service.

"We are confident that this agreement will deliver a sound, viable company for the future which satisfies not alone staff but also the people of Cork who came out in their droves to support the workers," he said. "We also welcome the management's acceptance of the terms of this agreement which offers a fairer deal to staff who have shown loyalty and dedication to the company for so many years," said Mr O'Connell.

He said the deal had been overwhelmingly approved by staff.

David Hickey, a butcher with the store for 27 years, said: "We particularly want to thank the people of Cork for their incredible support over the past few days."

A spokesman for O'Donovan's could not be contacted at the time of going to press.